The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-09-29
THE DIVINE PLUMB LINE.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON AT
THE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.

NE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.
a Straight Up and Down Religion
Observation-Disclosures Panics Caused by "a
Lack of Conidence-Brain Workers
Need as Much Sympathy as Laborers.
BRO0KLYN, Sept. 25.-After the great
congregation had sung the long ms Ter
t:oxology in the Brooklyn tabernacle this
morning DR.. Talmage expounded the sixth
chapter of the second epistle to the CORN
t!ians, setting forth the importance Of
s, ,paration from bad fellowship, and Soy
iLg that man is no better than the com
Eany he keeps. Professor Henry Eyre
Brown played an organ solo, Sonata 10.
in d minor, by Guillmant. The sub
ject Of the sermon was "a Straight Up
and Down Religion, - and the text was
Amos vii, s: ''And the Lord said unto
Lio, Amos, what seest thou? and l said,
a plumb line" DR.. Talmage said:
The solid masonry of the world has to
re fascination. Walk about some of
the triumphal arches and the cathedr, Is,
felr or six hundred years old, and see
them stand as erect as when they were
t,iided; walls of great height for cen
tuTie5, not bending quarter of an inch
this way or that. So greatly hono.ed
were the masons who builded these walls
that they were free from taxation and
called 'free" masons. The trowel gets
most of the credit for these buildings, and
a. clear ringing on stone and brick las
sounded across the ages. But there is
another implement of Just as much i'm
q ho ta ~
Dgnizes it. Bricklayers and stone mascns
EEd carpenters, i'll the building of walls,
ne an instrument made of a cord, al the
end of which lump of lead is fastened.
They drop it over the side of the wall,
aud, as the plummet naturally seeks the
center of gravity in the earth, the work
man discovers where the wall recedes
and where it bulges out and just what is
the perpendicular. Our text represents
God as standing on the wall of character,
which the Israeiites had built, and in tia at
way measuring it. "And the Lord said
auto me, Amos, what seest thou? and 1
F5id, A plumb line. -
What the world wants is a straight Ip
and down religion. Much of the SO called
piety of the day bends this way and that,
to suit the times. 1t is horizontal with q
low state of sentiment and morals. We
have all been building a wall of charac-
ter, and it is glaringly imperfect and
needs reconstruction. How shall it be
brought into the perpendicular? Only by
divine measurement. ''And the Lord
said to me. Amos, what seest thou? and
L said, A plumb line"
The whole tendency of the times is to
make Us act by the standard of what
others do. If they play cards, we play
rards. If they dance, we dance. If
they read certain styles of books, we read
them. We throw over the wall of our
character the tangled plumb line of OF .er
iiTes and reject the infaliible test which
Amos saw. The question for me should
not be what you think is right but what
God thinks is right This perpetual -ef-
trence to the behavior OF others, as
though it decided anything but hun an
failibItity, is q mistake as wide as The
world. There are 1000 plumb lines in
use, but only one is true and exact, and
that is the line of Cons eternal right
There is a mighty attempt being made to
reconstruct and fix up the Ten Command
mants. To many tho seem too rigid.
The tower of Pisa lean over about thirt-
cen feet from the perpendicular, and Peo-
PIE so thousands of miles to see its grace
ful inclination, and by extra braces and
g.trious architectural contrivances it is
kept leaning from century to century.
Why not have the ten granite blocks of
Sinai set little aslant? Why not have
Tie pillar of truth a leaning tower? v by
i not an ellipse as good as a square? Why
is not an obIique as good as straight up
and down? My friends, we must have a
standard; shall it be Gods or mans?
The divine plumb line needs to be
thrown over all merchandise. Thousa IDS
,0I years ago Solomon discovered the ten
d ncy of buyers to depreciate goods. Ht
aw a man beating down an article loCel
aId lower, and saying it was not wortt
the price asked, and when he had pur
chased at the lowest price he told eyery
body what a sharp bargain he had struck
and how he had outwitted the merchant
Proverbs xx, IA: 1T is naught, ii i
naught, saith the buyer; but when he i:
gone his way, then he boasteth." So at
terly askew is society in this matter t "a
you seldom find a seller asking the plic
that he expects to get. He puts on
higher value than he proposes to receive
if he wants fifty, he asks Seventy-tlve
And if he wants 1000 he asks 2,506
1t is naught. saith the buyer. 9TH
fabric is detective; the style of goods
poor: l can get elsewhere better art cl
at a smaller price. 1t is out of fashion
ii is damaged; it will fade; it will 40
wear we'll" After a while the mel
CUant, from over persuasion or desire
dispose of that particular stock OF goods
Gays, "Well, take it at your own prlce,
and the purchaser goes home with Lyh
step and calls into his private office hi
confidential friends, and chuckles wAii
he tells how that for half price he got tll
goods. In other words he lies, and 7vs
proud of it. Nothing would make tiInf
as good and the earning of hvehhoo
SO easy as the universal adoption of Il
law of right Suspicion strikes throuG
all bargain making. Men who sell klio
not whether they will ever get Il
money. Purchasers know not whei h'
tIle goods shipped will be according to Il
samDle And what. with the large nun
Der of clerks who are making false 81
tries and then absconding to Canada, IN
the explosion of firms that fail for mi
lions of dollars, honest men are at the
wits end to make q living. He wi
stands up amid all the pressure and DO
right is accomplishing something towar
the establishment of high commerci
prosperity. 1 have deep sympathy Il
ehe laboring classes who toll with har
and foot. But we must not forget Il
business men who, without any complai
or hammered professions Though t
street, are enduring a stress
circumstances terrific. The fortuna
people of today are those who q
receiving daily wages or regular salali'
And the men most to be pitied are the
who conduct 3 business while prices Q
falling, and yet try to pay their cler
and employees, and arc in such feari